The Art of The Elevator Pitch! Brand Mix & Matching at h+h americas 2024

This year, gosadi hosted our inaugural Content Creator Summit created in partnership with h+h americas, a groundbreaking event designed to foster meaningful connections between brands and creators within the stitching and crafting community.

The whole day was an empowering experience for guests but the highlight of the day was our Mix and Match Brand Mixer, a unique opportunity for creators to engage directly with brands and explore potential collaboration opportunities.

The Mix and Match Brand Mixer was a dynamic networking event featuring elements from speed dating to facilitate efficient and meaningful first connections between creators and brands. 

The concept of the Mix and Match Brand Mixer was inspired by the famous yarn-tasting event at Stitch Up Events and is the brainchild of gosadi co-founder Michele Costa. Michele's innovative approach to networking, and decade-plus of industry experience on both sides of the collaboration table, served as the foundation for this dynamic networking event.

Each brand had its own table, with information about the brand and their collaborative opportunities as well as a brand host. Creators had the chance to spend five minutes at each table, engaging in quick but impactful conversations with brand representatives and learning about ways to work with each brand.

Each participating brand brought their A-game and had mini pitches for each group of Creators as they moved from table to table.

Ahead of the event, we worked hand in hand with attendees and sponsors to design personalized one-sheets for each, highlighting the value they bring to a collaborative effort. These one sheeters served as invaluable resources, providing key information to facilitate productive discussions during the mixer and throughout the entire tradeshow.

For brands, the one sheeters outlined what they were seeking in terms of assets, collaborations, and payment structures. This ensured that creators could identify brands that were a good fit and then tailor their pitches accordingly, focusing on how they could add value to the brand's goals. 

It's important to remember that every brand has different goals when it comes to collaborations, assets, social channels, and time frames. Understanding these differences is the key to securing partnerships that last. 

Similarly, creators' one sheeters showcased their marketing stats, a little background about them and their craft, and reasons why brands should consider collaborating with them. It gave each Creator a way to show who THEY are and leave brands with something to take away to remember them.

Crafting a creator one-sheeter is just as important to the Creator as it is to the brand. Understanding what is important to YOU and knowing your worth allows you to walk up to the negotiation table with the power to select the collabs that are right for you. 

Armed with this information, creators were equipped to make a compelling case for partnership opportunities.

Keep reading: Crafting Success: The Essential Guide to Building Your Media Kit

Before we get into the details of how you can begin crafting your elevator pitch, we’d like to say a quick thank you to the brands behind the scenes. This event would not have been possible without the support of our incredible Content Creator Summit 2024 sponsors and participating brands:

Premier Yarns

Twice Sheared Sheep

Stitchcraft Marketing

Yarnspirations

Knitting Fever

Benartex

Search Press Publishing

SewTites

Hemptique

Berroco

we crochet

Knit Picks

Whether it's at a tradeshow like h+h americas or over email, it it important for creators to develop a strong elevator pitch when approaching brands. 

The Mix and Match Brand Mixer provided the perfect opportunity for creators to hone this skill, as they succinctly presented project ideas, examples of assets they could create, past successful partnerships, and future collaboration ideas to brand representatives.

We aimed to create an environment where everyone knew that approaching a brand was not only acceptable but also encouraged. This may not be the case everywhere, especially in a cold email. Therefore, it's crucial to have your elevator pitch ready to go.

An effective elevator pitch includes the following elements: 

- Your name and your commonly known brand name.

- The kinds of collaborations you are looking for and a brief summary of your ideas you have for that specific collaboration.

- A link to your personalized one-sheet that contains your statistics and provides the brand with more information about you.

For creators looking to craft their own one sheeters, we're giving you access to our one sheeter template! This is a template to guide you through the process and should not be used as your final one sheeter. Your final one-sheeter should include your unique brand colors, fonts, and logo. Make it feel like you!

Additionally, be sure to check out the gosadi Grapevine Blog for tips on crafting a successful media sheet, a valuable tool for creators navigating the world of brand partnerships.